This newly established feast is "to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the word of God," with our hope in doing so being, "to experience anew how the risen Lord opens up for us the treasury of his word and enables us to proclaim its unfathomable riches before the world." Pope Francis further illustrated the necessity of this feast saying in "Aperuit illis" that as Catholics, "we need to develop a closer relationship with sacred Scripture; otherwise, our hearts will remain cold and our eyes shut, struck as we are by so many forms of blindness." Like St. Paul on the road to Damascus, whose conversion we commemorated yesterday (Jan. 25th), we too have scales on our eyes if we willfully remain ignorant of or ignore the unchanging truth present in the inerrant Word of God.

With the purposes mentioned above in mind and to help our family and yours implement them in our homes, I've pulled together 5 ideas to solemnly mark this Sunday.

1. Review or Explain What the Bible Really Is.

The word Bible comes straight from the Greek work for book, scroll, and parchment: Biblos or βίβλος. In the Catechism we are told that Sacred Scripture is God the Father's love letter of one word to mankind and that Word of God made flesh is our savior Jesus Christ. (CCC 101-102) Therefore both the Word of God and the Body of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament are venerated because both are the Bread of Life. (CCC 103) All Scripture is divinely inspired by the Holy Ghost which makes God the Father it's sole author. (CCC 105) This also means that all of Scripture is true and without error. (CCC 107). In his second letter to Timothy, St Paul affirms this: "All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice, that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17)

Of course we make these timeless truths more digestable for our children. As with many of the complex mysteries of our Faith, they do not understand all these things the first time we tell them, but as they grow and hear the truth over and over again it will begin to click in their minds and make sense. We hit these simplified bullet points with our littles and reiterate them time after time. For our youngest ones the first 3 bullets are most important to us because they help prepare a foundation fertile ground to receive the other seeds of faith here and in the Bible itself:

• God's Word is True.
• God's Word can not change.
• God's Word can not be wrong. 
• God the Father is the author of the Bible, that is why it is called God's Word. 
• God the Father told men His words to write down in the Bible through the _inspiration_ of the Holy Ghost. 
• God's Word was born as a man to save us - Our Sweet Jesus. 
• The Word of God and the Blessed Sacrament both deserve our reverence because they are both the Bread of Life.

We haven't introduced our little ones to the Four Senses of Scripture yet, but we plan to use the same medieval couplet from Augustine of Dacia's Rotulus Pugillaris (1260 AD) recited in CCC 118:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Analogy our destiny.

or

Lettera gesta docet, quid credas allegoria,                                                           moralis quid agas, quo tendas anagogia.

2. Read Scripture as a Family

This can be as easy and you want to make it. Go over the readings from Mass again, inviting friends to join your family in looking up and reading aloud their favorite Bible verses or passages, or randomly selecting a place to begin reading from. Some popular passages to consider are The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12), The Love Chapter (13) in 1 Corinthians, The Parables of Jesus in the book of Matthew (chapter 13), Hebrew stories from Genesis (Joshua ch. 91-94, Ruth ch. 95-98, David and Goliath ch. 112-114) or the moving story of the first reading of Scripture following the Hebrew return from exile in Babylon (Nehemiah 8).

This Sunday is also a perfect time to institute or revive the traditional practice of reading the Bible together on Sundays. Since the resurrection of Our Lord, Sundays have been set aside as days to bring glory to God, a time for rest and relaxation. Our family believes Sunday should be the best - most looked forward to - day of the week and a short while steeping in God's Word during Sunday Supper or before bedtime can be a beautiful part of that. Kissing (venerating) your family Bible after reading it, like the priest does after the Gospel reading, is a simple way to show a little more reverence in the moment as well as make the occasion more meaningful and memorable for the children. The book of Psalms is a painless place to start because if your skip the week of Christmas and Easter, your family can go through all 150 Psalms in a year by only reading 3 psalms each Sunday.

Reading the Bible for 30 minutes is also a PLENARY INDULGENCE, under the usual conditions, if you need a little more motivation. For the usual conditions you must be:
• In a state of grace (not excommunicated)
• Detached from all sin
• Go to confession 20 days before or after
• Receive Communion 20 days before or after
• Pray for the Pope’s holy intentions

3. Start Learning All the Books of the Bible

The 3 following songs to help your family learn the books of the Bible contain all 73 books of the Catholic Canon. Protestants do not accept the 7 Deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament that are part of the Bible's original canon put together by the Church. The Deuterocanonical includes 1 and 2 Maccabees, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, Sirach, Wisdom, and small portions of Esther and Daniel. 

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Catholic Schoolhouse Old  Testament Books Song

4. Make a Plan for Your Family's Study of the Bible

The Psalms tell us," Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." But if we want to keep the fire of God's Word burning in our homes we need to tend it often or it will go out from neglect.

​The first thing here is to confirm that your family has a hardcopy of the Bible. Yes, you can google free copies of just about every translation, but there is just something remarkable about holding a tangible book of God's Word in your hands. It would be very fitting to buy a Bible _and get it blessed_ for this this feast. It is also an apropos time to plan and budget for when you want to give each child their own Bible. Because it is also the Bread of Life, in our family the Bible is our gift to our children at their First Holy Communion. We are saving for this Vulgate with the English Douay Rheims translation side by side version here. It is online here.

For family study of the Bible we should at least be looking over the upcoming Sundays readings before Mass. For an actual book or what we in our modern day call a "Bible Study" you can not go wrong with the timeless Scripture commentaries by the saints like Sts. Thomas Aquinas, Jerome, and Augustine, as well as Cornelius A Lapide. Just read and devour a little at a time with your family.

Another beneficial family practices is memorizing key and favorite verses and passages. St. Anthony of Egypt had the whole Gospel of Luke memorized! And priests had to know Scripture well enough to be tested over it's entirety before ordination. Let's bring back that level of familiarity with God's Word to our Catholic homes! 

Taking time to teach your family and practice lectio divina is another powerful option. For our littles we read a short passage and they draw what it makes them think of. For young kids it can be as simple as that. For ourselves, and later our older children, we follow the 4 traditional steps of lectio divina and often add the common extra step of discussion: 

• Lectio - Reading 
• Meditatio - Meditation for mental or academic understanding
• Oratio - Prayer
• Contemplatio - Contemplation for the revelation of the internal spiritual truth
• Collatio - Discussion

​

5. Have a Sword  Drill

As part of the Armor of God found one Ephesians 6, the Bible is refers to as the Sword of the Spirit. And as the Church Militant we should know how to wield our weapons. If the practice is unfamiliar to you older children, you can take time today teach them how look up specific scripture references within it. While they are holding their Bibles, it is a convenient opportunity to instruct your family that it should be treated gently with reverence and respect because it is the most precious and important book of all - the Book of Books.

At out house we do Sword Drills periodically and for the feasts of specific saints like St. Anthony of Padua (the Hammer of Heretics), St. Jerome, Our Lady of Sorrows, and any other saints that penned books of the Bible (The 4 Evangelists, Paul, Peter, etc...). Everyone holds a Bible above their shoulder then someone calls out the Scripture reference and we race to look it up. 

Bonus Ideas:

• Sing "The B-I-B-L-E" (It doesn't have to mean Sola Scriptura) 
• Listen to The Donut Man's "Love Letter" song or album. You can listen to this whole album on Spotify along with some of his others albums. Our kids give them two thumbs up!!
• Have a lasagna for Sunday Supper and decorate the top with vegetables to look like an open book. The same decorating could be done to cheese toast as a side dish.
• Make your own little chocolate Bibles with candy melts and this candy mold.

I pray these ideas aid your family in commemorating this new feast not only throughout the week but as Pope Francis encouraged in his homily for the day while y'all continue to "make room, each day, in your [family's] lives for the Word of God." 

Pax,

Genie

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 But He said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it. -Luke 11:28​

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In our home, the commemoration of the Embertides are a carry over from my husband's and my college days when I was an Anglo-Catholic (Anglican, Church of England in America). Anglicans follow a form of the Old or Pre-Vatican II Calendar like those under the Pastoral Provision or Personal Ordinariate. It is similar to 1962 calendar followed by Roman Catholic parishes that celebrate the Traditional Latin Mass.

Though no longer on the books in the New Calendar as Holy Days of Obligation, and their official practice left solely to the discretion of each regional Bishop's Conference, they were a requirement for all healthy Catholics until 1966. Now In recent years, the Ember Days have been recommended by Bishops for observance again as Holy Days of Opportunity, for example, Bishop Strickland of Tyler, Texas, Bishop Zubik of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

What are the Ember Days?

Despite their title, these days have nothing to do with fire at all. Rather, their English name is an alteration over time of the original Latin, Quatuor Tempora, meaning "four times." In England they were called Quatember then shortened to just Ember.

The Ember Days are sets of 3 penitential days put aside at the start of each natural season for prayer, fasting, abstinence, and thanksgiving. They are a time to consecrate each season to God, show gratitude for his creation, and offer sacrifice for the intentions of His blessing for a bountiful harvest and its proper use.

As we pray to God for bounty in the current season, it is fitting that we also pray for the harvest of souls and the increase of the workers in that vineyard, vocations and holy Priests. This discipline harkens back to Matthew 9:37-38 where Christ asks us to pray for vocations when he says, “…The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

Drawing on the existing Roman practice of quarterly fasting for the intention of a plentiful harvest, the early 3rd century Pope Callixtus I instituted within the Church these four times of fasting for greater vocations. In the early 5th century Pope Leo the Great believed that the Ember Days went back to at least the apostles and perhaps the Jewish custom of fasting four times a year. Later, in the late 5th century, Pope Gelasius I required that all ordinations, to any of the seven Holy Orders, take place on Ember Saturdays. This remained the case until Vatican II. We can see the connection between fasting, prayer, and then ordination through the example the Apostles in Acts 13:3, “Then they, fasting and praying, and imposing their hands upon them, sent them away." Finally, Pope Gregory VII set the specific days of the week and feast days that each Embertide follows for the universal Church in the 11th century. 

"Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie."

When are the Ember Days?

The Embertides are once a season and always fall on the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after a specific feast day.  When the corresponding feast day lands on a Wednesday, the Ember Days are bumped to the next week. The Seasonal Ember Days mirror the Early Church's typical fasting each week on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. These weekly days of fasting corresponded to the 3 original Station Churches where Mass was said in Rome during each week: St. Mary Major, the Basilica of the Apostles, and St. Peter in the Vatican.

+ Wednesday is in remembrance of Judas’ betrayal of Christ.

+ Friday is in remembrance of the Passion and Crucifixion.

+ Saturday is in remembrance of Jesus' time in the tomb.

+ Thursday is skipped to honor Maundy Thursday and institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper.

 Wednesday and Saturday are days of fasting and partial abstinence while Friday is a day of fasting and full abstinence.

+ On days of Fasting one full meal and 2 collations (snacks) are permitted.

+ On days of Full Abstinence no meat is permitted.

+ On days of Partial Abstinence meat is permitted at one meal.

+ Fasting is for those 18-59.

+ Abstinence is for those 14 and older.

"Lenti + Penti + Cruci + Luci"

Winter or Advent Ember Days are after the Feast of St. Lucy (December 13th) and give thanks for the olives that make holy oils for Unction. 

Spring or Lenten Ember Days are after Ash Wednesday (moveable, February 4th-March 10th) and give thanks for the flowers and bees that make blessed candles as in for Baptism and upon the alter. 

Summer or Whit Ember Days are after the Solemnity of Pentecost (50 days after Easter) and give thanks for the wheat used to make the Eucharist hosts.

Autumn or Michaelmas Ember Days are after the Feast of Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14) and the 3rd Sunday of September. They give thanks for the grapes that make wine for the Precious Blood of Christ.

Typically the Ember Days are only bumped a week when the feast they are tied to, Roodmas, St. Lucy Day etc., lands on a Wednesday.

However, the Autumn Ember Days are unique in their scheduling. With the 1960 revisions to the breviary rubrics and the newly instituted system of counting Sundays from August to December, Pope John XXIII added that the September Ember Days should not only follow the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross as they had historically done, but also fall after the 3rd Sunday of September. The other sets of Ember Days were already fixed to specific weeks of Advent, Lent, and Pentecost. This stipulation helps the Michaelmas Embertide fall closer to the actual change of season in certain years and usually it does _not_ cause any change from the traditional dates. 2014 was the last year it was an issue, as it will be in 2020.

In contrast, for members of Ordinariate parishes the historic dates for the Autumn Ember Day are always kept. The calendar of the Pastoral Provision offered by Pope St. John Paul II, now referred to as the Personal Ordinariate since Pope Benedict XVI, was not recognized by the Church until 1980. And since until that time and beyond this group used their own Breviary, it did not include the clarification added by Pope John XXIII. Like with their permission for married priests, the Ordinariate’s exception to use their calendar allows for the marking of the Michaelmas Embertide on the historic days by their select group of very few parishes.

"Lucy, Ashes, Dove, and Cross"

Commemorating the Ember Days at Home

For our family, the seasonal Ember Days are like Little Lents, an opportunity to reset and reorder our affections toward Christ at the beginning of each quarter through the prescribed prayer, sacrifice, and thanksgiving. We default to our usual family Lenten disciplines of no secular music and other media, etc. This idea is also reflected in the violet vestments worn at Mass on these days, with the exception of the Whit Ember Days because they fall in the Octave of Pentecost when it is customary for red to be donned. The Thursdays of Embertides, however, are given a different character in our home to highlight their separation from the penitential days of the week. As part of that, meat is sure to be on the menu! 

​

When meal planning for these days, an easy connection is to draw from the list of crops for which the Ember days show thanksgiving:

+ Winter Olives and Oil 

+ Spring Honey from the bees

+ Golden Summer Wheat

+ Rich Autumn Grapes for Wine. 

​

Another fun tie-in is Japanese tempura. It is thought that tempura was inspired in part by Spanish and Portuguese missionaries when their word for the ember days, “tempora,” was associated with their request for meals of fish on those days. 

Supper is usually when we pray the collect and read the scriptures from the Mass (the Mass Propers) for each specific day. You can find them here:

For the Winter or Advent Embertide:

​Propers for Ember Wednesday of Advent

Propers for Ember Friday of Advent

Propers for Ember Saturday of Advent

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For the Spring or Lenten Embertide:

Propers for Ember Wednesday of Lent

Propers for Ember Friday of Lent

Propers for Ember Saturday of Lent

​

For the Summer or Whit Embertide:

​Propers for Ember Wednesday of Whisuntide

​Propers for Ember Friday of Whisuntide​

Propers for Ember Saturday of Whisuntide

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For the Autumn or Michaelmas Embertide:

​Propers for Ember Wednesday of September

Propers for Ember Friday of September

Propers for Ember Saturday of September

Pope Leo the Great wrote at least seven short sermons for the Ember Days and we like to read one of them as part of our afternoon Literature Hours. They are online here:

For the Winter or Advent Embertide:

​On the Fast of the 10th Month, I

On the Fast of the 10th Month

On the Fast of the 10th Month, VI

On the Fast of the 10th Month, VIII

​

For the Summer or Whit Embertide:

On the Whitsuntide Fast, I

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For the Autumn or Michaelmas Embertide:

On the Fast of the 7th Month, III

On the Fast of 7th Month, V

On the Fast of the 7th Month, VI

The Ember Days are also an appropriate time for learning about creation and the seasons as well as when we focus on our seasonal work. Even if you don't live on a farm, I'm sure there are unique outdoor chores that every family could schedule for the Embertides. Additionally, we like to use these times as a reminder to discuss the connection between prayer and physical labor. The Benedictine motto of "Ora et Labora" (prayer and work) is a tenant we bring up often to our sons and St. Benedict's Rule for his monastery is a good place to start on that subject. The brief text can be read in full here and here. 

Aside from the expected prayer, fasting, and abstinence, in my old diocese the Ember days were also when our clerics wrote update letters to their bishop. This is a tradition we like to keep. The address of your bishop should be easy to locate on your diocesan website. 

Lastly, a simple project during Ember weeks is to make egg tempera paint with food coloring, a tiny bit of dish soap, and an egg yolk for each color. This paint is great for windows and is the type of paint still used in the creation of religious icons. 

Pax,

Genie

This month we are learning the hymn “Lord Who Throughout These 40 Days” written by English hymnist Claudia Frances Hernaman in 1873. Over the years Hernaman penned the text of over 150 hymns. She released several hymn collections, many intended for children. 

This most common hymn tune used with “Lord Who Throughout These 40 Days” is called St. Flavian. Each of the six verses reuses the same music making the hymn strophic in musical terms. A fitting hymn for Lent, the text of the first three verse explores an aspect of Christ's time in the desert following his Baptism. The last two verses are pleas for Christ's strength in times of our own temptation.

All your family has to do to learn this hymn is sing along with me!

Just right click to download the recordings for your family's use.

If you are new to our hymn study videos, Singing with the Saints is a ministry whose purpose is to bring the ancient Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Church into the hearts and homes of Catholic families through sacred music.  

​

We typically begin our Hymn Study time by reviewing an older hymn we have learned, then proceed to the new hymn. Only two of my sons are of reading age, so I introduce a new hymn by having everyone repeat the lines of the first verse after me. Next I sing the first verse once and then have my boys join in the second time through with humming, a neutral syllable, or attempting the words. We sing the current verse we are learning about three times a day during our Morning Liturgy (Morning Time). They pick up a verse in about a week. After our singing we choose a few of the additional activities below to help us dig a little deeper. I have provided some printable sheets for your family’s use, should you be interested in having them participate in any of the following with us.

A Few Ideas for Expanding This Hymn Study:

• Catechesis: discussing the theological truths painted in the text.
• Commonplacing – Florilegium entries: choosing to copy down a line that is personally meaningful.
• Dictation: use a selection from the hymn text
• Ear Training: have your family practice Attentive Listening by drawing what is heard in the text or music
• Handwriting: use a selection from the hymn text
• Memorization
• Narration of Hymn Text: have your family speak and/or write what they remember about the hymn text in their own words
• Singing for Beauty and Enjoyment: add hymn singing to a meal or bedtime ritual
• Vocabulary Enrichment: discuss unfamiliar words and phrases with your family

Please subscribe to our Youtube channel here to be notified of each week's new video.

Sign up below to receive the {FREE} Hymn text printable for your family hymnal.

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

You can find all our past Singing with the Saints resources here.

Do you have questions or suggestions for a future hymn to be covered? Please enter them below and I'll do my best to answer and include the hymns in an upcoming Hymn Study.

Dating back to at least the 300s Christians have made pilgrimages along the path that Christ traveled on his way to Calvary. This route was known as the Via Dolorosa, The Way of Sorrow. Over time nine stops for prayer were added, in addition to 5 others found in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Following the Muslim occupation of Jerusalem in the 600s when pilgrimages to that city became too dangerous, Christians were inspired to erect substitute walks to aid the meditation on the Passion of the Cross in their own countries. 

Later when the Franciscans were permitted back into Jerusalem it is said that St. Francis composed the first prayers for the stations. Pope Innocent XI gave permission for station to be added to their order’s churches, with the applied plenary indulgence of a pilgrimage, in 1686. This privilege was extended to all churches in 1862 by Pope Pius IX and the number of fourteen stations was universally set. In the 1700s St. Alphonsus Liguori penned the most widely used form of the Stations of the Cross that included prayers, meditations, and the addition of parts of the Stabat Mater Dolorosa chant.

Praying the Stations of the Cross at Home

With a house-full of little children, the Friday night Stations of the Cross at our parish always seemed to be during suppertime or bumping up to bedtime, so we began praying the Stations at home near the time of Christ’s death at 3pm. Find a time that works well for your specific family!

Some ideas are:

• Before or after a meal
• During Morning Time (“Morning Liturgy”)
• After naptime
• During your family’s bed time ritual

Our parish also includes a soup or fish supper with the Stations and we continued that tradition in our home too, as part of our usually more austere Lenten menu. I found the little wooden crosses for the indulged home Stations of the Cross in the cheap party favor section of a local christian bookstore. 

Plenary Indulgences when praying the Stations at Home

To gain the plenary indulgence when praying the Station of the Cross at home the usual conditions are required, so one must:

• Be in a state of grace (not excommunicated)

• Be detached from all sin

• Make a confession 20 days before or after

• Receive Holy Communion 20 days before or after 

• Pray for the Pope’s intentions

And particularly for the Stations indulgence one must:

• Have properly hung and blessed Stations at the least made of 14 small wooden crosses.

• Have the leader of the devotion, if not all participants, move from station to station. 

When all the requirements for this plenary indulgence are not met the indulgence becomes partial. Regardless of the type of indulgence granted, praying the Stations of the Cross with your family is a great benefit to one's soul and a beautiful opportunity for catechesis on the passion of our Lord and to teach meditation to even the youngest members of our Domestic Monasteries.

To help your family pray the Stations at home I have made a printable booklet that I'd love to email to you. Just subscribe below! 

I have also provided recordings of the 14 verses of the Stabat Mater hymn ( in Latin and English ) that usually accompany the Stations of the Cross.

Stabat Mater in Latin

I pray these resources are a blessing to you and help your family have a fruitful Lent!

Pax,

Genie

This month we are learning the hymn “O Love How Deep How Broad How High” written by St. Thomas à Kempis in the early 1400s. Originally penned in Latin, it was later translated to English in the mid 1800’s by Benjamin Webb, a Church of England clergyman. Thomas à Kempis is best known for his devotional book, the Imitation of Christ. This book is one of the most translated works ever written, second only to the Bible.

This hymn is considered strophic in the language of music because each of the six verses reuses the same music - the 1753 french hymn tune, Deus Tuorum Militum. Each verse depicts a different event of Christ's life in which he showed his love toward us.  

All your family has to do to learn this hymn is sing along with me!

Just right click to download the recordings for your family's use.

If you are new to our hymn study videos, Singing with the Saints is a ministry whose purpose is to bring the ancient Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Church into the hearts and homes of Catholic families through sacred music.  

​

We typically begin our Hymn Study time by reviewing an older hymn we have learned, then proceed to the new hymn. Only two of my sons are of reading age, so I introduce a new hymn by having everyone repeat the lines of the first verse after me. Next I sing the first verse once and then have my boys join in the second time through with humming, a neutral syllable, or attempting the words. We sing the current verse we are learning about three times a day during our Morning Liturgy (Morning Time). They pick up a verse in about a week. After our singing we choose a few of the additional activities below to help us dig a little deeper. I have provided some printable sheets for your family’s use, should you be interested in having them participate in any of the following with us.

A Few Ideas for Expanding this Hymn Study:

• Catechesis: discussing the theological truths painted in the text.
• Commonplacing – Florilegium entries: choosing to copy down a line that is personally meaningful.
• Dictation: use a selection from the hymn text 
• Ear Training: have your family practice Attentive Listening by drawing what is heard in the text or music
• Handwriting: use a selection from the hymn text 
• Memorization
• Narration of Hymn Text: have your family speak and/or write what they remember about the hymn text in their own words 
• Singing for Beauty and Enjoyment: add hymn singing to a meal or bedtime ritual
• Vocabulary Enrichment: discuss unfamiliar words and phrases with your family 

​

Please subscribe to our Youtube channel here to be notified of each week's new video.

Sign up below to receive the {FREE} Hymn text printable for your family hymnal.

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

Verse 4

Verse 5

Verse 6

You can find all our past Singing with the Saints resources here.

Do you have questions or suggestions for a future hymn to be covered? Please enter them below and I'll do my best to answer and include the hymns in an upcoming Hymn Study. 

As we approach the Worldwide Summit on Abuse Prevention this February 21st -24th, please join us for Seven Sundays of Sacrifice, a period of seven full weeks set aside for daily prayer, fasting, and reparation for the success of the bishops seeking tangible solutions to this church crisis as well as the healing of and justice for the still grieving victims. Following the example of Bl. Pope Pius IX, who proclaimed St. Joseph the Protector of the Universal Church, we will turn to St. Joseph for aid as he did during the Church struggles of his own time. This time of prayer, fasting, and reparation will coincide with the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph devotion and invoke the intercession of his Most Chaste Heart as the example for all our spiritual fathers, the Protector of the Universal Church, and Terror of Demons.

This year the Seven Sundays fall between the feasts of two courageous bishops in our church’s history, St. Blaise on February 3rd, and St. Patrick on March 17th. Our prayer is that the bishops attending the summit follow in the fearless footsteps of these three patrons and make the positive changes our Church needs after this Summer of Shame. For these seven weeks, all are encouraged to offer up their Masses, Seven Sunday devotions, rosaries, and any daily sacrifices they are able in line with their state and vocation. Let us unite our sorrows over this tribulation with those of St. Joseph and maintain our hope for triumph over it in his joys. 

You can take part in this endeavor privately, but I would invite you to publicly show your support and solidarity with this campaign to help our group of participants grow. You can do this by commenting below, sharing this post and/or its images on social media, using the hashtag #sevensundaysofsacrifice, as well as making your own posts and graphics. Feel free to quote this post or speak from your heart. The choice is up to you! All the free to use images can be found at the end of this post.

Each Sunday I will share the prayers and scriptures for that week of the devotion on my social media accounts (Facebook & Instagram).  I can also email you a copy of the complete devotion in the form of a free printable prayer booklet.

More on the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph

Tradition holds that following a shipwreck near Holland in the 15oos, two Franciscan monks survived on the sea for two days by drifting on a piece of the wreckage. Miraculously they were then rescued and transported safely to land by an aged man. When asked his identity, the man replied that he was St. Joseph and asked them to honor his seven sorrows by saying seven Our Fathers and seven Hail Marys daily. St. Joseph's seven joys were also including soon there after The original devotion, first mentioned by Fr. John da Fano in 1536, mirrored the popular devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows at the time. 

The devotion of the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph has prayers and scripture passages penned by Bl. Gennaro Sarnelli in the 1700s. It was championed by several popes of the 19th and 20th century through the attachment of plenary indulgences to the devotion, including Popes Pius VII, Gregory XVI, and Pius IX.

The Seven Sundays are traditionally observed the seven Sundays before the Solemnity of St. Joseph on March 19th but may be practiced at any point throughout the year. Each Sunday the prayers and Scriptures recall one of St. Joseph's seven sorrows and joys during his life with Christ. To observe this devotion receive Holy Communion and pray the designated prayers in honor of St. Joseph for seven consecutive Sundays. The partially indulged Litany of St. Joseph may also be prayed at the end. Our family also sings the hymn, "Hail Holy Joseph Hail." 

These past few months of inaction have been painful for us all. If you are a victim please speak out. I hope it is a small consolation to know that the faithful are standing up and praying with you. And although we may not always see the fruit of our sacrifices, we can have confidence that God sees them, that they are pleasing to Him, and they are still of benefit for the healing of the Church and our souls.

Pax,

Genie

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This month we are learning an hymn fit for the Solemnity of Epiphany and the Baptism of our Lord. "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise" was written by Christopher Wordsworth in 1862 and uses Jakob Hintze's tune Salzburg from 1678. Christopher Wordsworth was the nephew of famed poet William Wordsworth. 

The first verse of "Songs of Thankfulness and Praise" references the revealing of Christ's divinity to all gentiles through the Magi. Verse two recalls the Baptism of our Lord in the river Jordan while the final original verse focuses on Jesus' healing ministry.   

All your family has to do to learn this hymn is sing along with me!

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If you are new to our hymn study videos, Singing with the Saints is a ministry whose purpose is to bring the ancient Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Church into the hearts and homes of Catholic families through sacred music.   

Verse 1

Verse 2

Verse 3

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